Well, well. It looks like Pippa Middleton is marrying a guy with a title after all. Sort of! All this time, I thought Pippa’s fiancé, the Terribly Rich™ James Matthews, was as nouveau riche as the Middletons. I thought that meant that Pippa had to choose: chase titled aristocrats for the next five years, or “settle” for someone Terribly Rich™ and without a title. While the Matthews’ family has only become wealthy in the past few generations, it seems that their wealth allowed them to somehow acquire a title. The way the Daily Express explains it, it sounds like James’ father David Matthews bought the title as part of a grand estate in Scotland. Which… is that the way hereditary titles work these days???
Pippa Middleton will finally get an aristocratic title to rival older sister Kate following her engagement to the fabulously wealthy son of a Scottish Laird, Express.co.uk can reveal. The 32-year-old sister of the Duchess of Cambridge will one day become Lady Glen Affric and have access to a sprawling 10,000-acre Scottish estate after marrying nobleman James Matthews.
Mr Matthews, a super-rich hedge fund manager, is the son of David Matthews, the Laird of Glen Affric, who owns an historic castle 15 miles from world-famous Loch Ness in the Scottish highlands. He will inherit the title upon his father’s death, until which time Pippa will be able to use the courtesy title of Mrs Matthews of Glen Affric the younger, bestowed upon her as the heir’s wife. She will be able to use the title anywhere in the Commonwealth, such as Australia or Canada, but it is thought she is unlikely to do so given the recent down to earth portrayal of Mr Matthews as the grandson of a coal miner.
David Matthews, a former mechanic, is thought to have acquired the hereditary title, which is largely ceremonial, when he bought the magnificent Glen Affric estate in 2008. The aristocratic connection was unearthed by Australian art historian Michael Reed, who said the Matthews family “keep to themselves” but that “they know how to play the royal game”.
He said: “You’ve certainly got this Matthews family who own this huge baronial castle.”
The aristocratic title has a long and rich history and even comes with its own red and green tartan, which Mr Matthews could opt to wear at what will be a star-studded wedding. Sprawling Glen Affric Lodge also has its very own royal connection with the Queen’s grandmother, Mary, having stayed at the estate in the late 19th century. And Mr Mathews, who is chief executive of London-based Eden Rock Capital Management Group, went to Eton College like Pippa’s brother-in-laws William and Harry.
He “is thought to have acquired the hereditary title… when he bought the magnificent Glen Affric estate in 2008…” Again, that’s not how titles work? The title comes along with the house? When you really think about it, you can just anoint yourself whatever and claim that it’s now a hereditary title. I am Kaiser, Duchess of Wiglets, Baroness Bangs Trauma. My closest female relative shall retain those titles when I pass! As for Pippa becoming Lady Glen Affric one day… well, good for her. Not only did she get someone Terribly Rich™, but she also scored a (purchased) aristocratic title. Sigh…
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.
GoodNamesAllTaken, of Snotwich, the elder. That’s my new title, y’all.
You need a signet ring, stat. And Pippa needs a new one for her Affric gig. You and Pippa should be signet ring BFFs!
You win the internet today !😂😂😂😂😂
I shall be Katie Prime Bitch of Bitchington,! GNAT, that was great!
Pippa wins the game.
A rich husband and a title!
No need to pretend to be frugal or meek.
Vacations, marathons and vacations!
This!! Pippa wins. She isnt accountable to taxpayers and she doesnt have to pretend to GAF about the poors. Also Ive havent heard anything about her guy being a knob like Will is
I was thinking the same. Much like prince Harry, Pip wins. They get the perks without the obligation.
I’m not sure she gets to be called Lady Pippa. I believe Lairdships come with the land and are more like Lord of the Manor titles, which are used after the name.
Many royals/aristocrats aren’t even THAT wealthy these days. The upkeep of castles, palaces, and land (oh my!) really digs in the pocket. Also, she’ll have a title without the responsibility. Which is funny, because judging by personality, she and Kate should be in opposite scenarios.
Well aren’t the Windsor’s extremely rich and also have hidden money as well?
They are wealthy. But not well enough to manage *all* of the upkeep. Buckingham Palace has fallen into disrepair apparently. It’s far from ugly and decrepit, but I’ve heard people say they were surprised by how dingy some parts looked.
The last time I was in the UK we visited a few castles and I was rather surprised that the intense upkeep seemed limited to the most popular public elements of the building.
The Windsors are rich, but not Terribly rich in their own right. They aren’t wealthy enough to sustain their current lifestyle without taxpayer subsidies and the freebies from friends.
I’ve read that from various ‘conspiracy oriented’ authors. But I really think if it were true that they are very rich they wouldn’t have to open all their homes to tourists. Even Charles’ home is open to paying tourists.
The Windsors are wealthy, but the aristocracy is comprised of many, many more people and families than just the Windsors.
@HH well the royals are rich why don’t they fix it themselves? Also don’t they have crown jewels that’s worth billions? I still think they have hidden money.
Much of what the Royal Family have is in fact owned by Britain. They are a kind of custodian to the palaces, art collection, and Crown Jewels. Some of the jewelry the Queen has is personal property and is clearly stated as such when the media describes what she and/or her family are wearing during events.
Some other European Royal families have all their tiaras and jewels in a trust, which they control but no one person technically owns. It helps in cases of divorce or abdication because it was never “theirs” and they have no claim on it during negotiations. Queen Margarethe lost a tiara to one of her sons’ first wives because it was understood she gave it to Alexandra at the wedding and so she retained ownership long after ceasing to be a Princess.
The royals don’t own nearly all the manors and castles in Britain, though. There are many other landed aristocratic families.
@kitty…maybe they have it hidden down in the Hellfire Caves?? 😉
She and Carole must have the paps on speed dial, 3 paps strolls in 3 days for a wannabe IT girl. She’s still thirsty for the fame and allegedly had calmed it down to nab the terribly wealthy and now titled man. Milking it is all the Mids know how to do.
They keep referring to him as “super-rich” but I can’t imagine he is as rich as Miranda’s new fiance, now that guy is really super rich!
I also realized that in terms of wealth, Pippa and her family are probably considered just well-off. Considering the kind of money that some people have (and spend) in London, her family most likely wouldn’t be nowhere around those circles, hadn’t it been for her sister’s marriage?
I’m Lady SoCal Subdivision.
I see your Lady SoCal Subdivision, and raise you as Empress Santa Ana of Orange County…..
Oh, very well. I, Archduchess Ankhel von Toblerone und Haagen Daz, am all in!
In Scotland anyone can buy a title. I myself am a “Lady of Glencoe.” I purchased a souvenir plot of 10×10 ft a few years ago and can now officially use the title. Of course, I’m American + I belong to the Farquharson clan, by blood, but that’s OK.
You win the comment section. HAHAHAHAHA.
Beats Lady Ben Affleck.
Now that’s funny.
Good grief, her style is just horrible. Not a closet I’d like to visit.
Lady Pippa of Orange spray tan Doritoville
Ha!
You win!
Where is she going everyday? Besides the gym? She doesn’t have a job, wimbeldon is over, she for some reason has an assistant to run her errands. What does she do all
day?
Tan.
So she just gym, tans, gym, tans. Ugh it’s basically my version of hell.
GTL dudes! It’s the way she lives her life! Or I guess no L, since she’s got somebody else to do that for her.
Gym, tan, but don’t forget shopping, lunch, coffee!!!
This is the EXACT thought I had!
To meet with the wedding planners, dahling! Outdoing a Royal Wedding of an heir doesn’t just happen. Pippa will be working harder than ever in the next coming months, the poor dear.
Don’t forget arranging pap walks, dressing for pap walks, and I don’t know what other planning goes into pap walks, but I assume there is a lot. Probably involves trips to the salon and stuff like that.
A Scottish castle would be a perfect place for a wedding. And if it belongs to your family even better!
I’ve walked the paths of Glen Affric, it is a truly beautiful location. No idea about the castle, though.
That ring is beyond gauche.
Also, my brother-in-law bought a Scottish title for himself and his wife as a wedding present. They got 1 sq metre of vacant land (I. E. A rock in the outer hebrides no doubt) and got to register their titles as whatever they wanted. It cost him $250 canadian… poor pippa: if only she’d had this information she could have saved herself a lot of time and heartache 😉
The funny thing is that some people actually believe they bought a real title. 😀
I doubt your brother-in-law did, but many do.
My British dad, who has a real title, used to show me ads in magazines for property for sale in the UK that came with a title of Laird.
Don’t some of those old Scottish titles belong to the land, not a specific family? It goes back to the raiding clan days, so whoever captured a castle/keep became the laird of that area, booting out the previous family they defeated. Sort of like how the Boltons took Winterfell and became the Lords of Winterfell, disenfranchising the Starks.
If that’s the case, I don’t think it’s any less legitimate, because there’s got to a patent for the title somewhere, but I do think it’s become incredibly dodgy because of those castle magazines, and also fraud. How hard is it to tell someone if they buy your dreary keep, they get to be a baron?
As an extension – is it more legitimate to keep a title when you no longer have the land attached? (Looking at you, deposed Greek royal family)
Think Royal titles are different, read somewhere that QE2 believes “once a king always a king” and suppose because the King and Queen of Greece were crowned and did reign for a time they get to keep the titles, plus nobody else claims them. Obviously their son won’t be King of Greece unless they reinstate the monarchy
Well yeah – Philip’s one of them! Of course she would say that 🙂
Bridget: lots of aristocrats without land retain their titles. Some of them are even Dukes eg The Duke of St Alban.
Can you imagine Pips stuck in the hinterlands? Ain’t gonna happen even if a castle comes with it. I can see her introducing herself:” Hello, I’m Lady Glen Affric, I have a castle”. Even if the title is nouveau richely bought.
At least she has been set free to be the media sensation she always wanted to be. The BRF can’t hold her back any longer and she’s making up for lost time. Lady Greed, Lust and Envy.
Waity must be beside herself. Time to shop!
Who holds her hand like that naturally? I’m telling ya, her hands just hang off her arms like slabs of ham, always. Don’t know why it annoys me so much.
I love titles. I think I shall be styled …..and fill in the blank.
Guess I’m changing my moniker to Lady Drinksalot of Chardonnay
I love it.
I’m Lady Is It Wine Wednesday Yet.
It’s always Wine Wednesday.
I agree.
Her legs look orangey-er today. She must have had a spray tan since yesterday’s pics.
Anyone can buy a title these days, it just won’t get you admitted into those circles.
Simon Cowell bought one for Cheryl Cole (or whatever she’s calling herself these days). You buy a piece of land on an estate and ‘get’ the title. Looks like this might be the same as that.
As far as I know hereditary titles can’t be bought. There passed down and if there’s no one to inherit it, it goes back to the crown.
Well, a hereditary title can be “bought” in the sense that the recent title creations all seem to go to people who make a bunch of money.
The titles handed out these days, of the type you are discussing are not hereditary. They are life peerage titles only. A life peerage can be given to females where hereditary titles can not. Only males hold/inherit hereditary titles.
We’ve stopped creating new hereditary titles with exception of royals. IIRC, the last hereditary title was created for Denis Thatcher in 1990. It was a neat way to ensure that Margaret Thatcher’s life peerage title didn’t die on her own death and could be inherited by her family.
Titles for sale, like this Glen Affric don’t have the same value as a proper centuries old hereditary crown creation. In ye old times, these lower order titles for sale were a good way to raise cash for the treasury and to award people who weren’t to the manor born.
That said, i always enjoy the rumour that Boris Becker bought ‘Lord of Wimbledon’ title when it came up for sale.
Some hereditary titles can go to women e.g Countess of Mar, Countess of Sutherland, Countess Mountbatten, there have also been Duchesses of Marlborough in the past. Think it just depends when the title is created whether they allow for female succession, in some cases they are allowed to succeed to junior titles e.g a Duke’s daughter could inherit his earldom but not his dukedom
Generally women holding titles in their own right fall into a couple of categories: heiresses whose right to pass the title to their husband has been confirmed by the crown (although such women were sometimes referred to as being “x of x” in their own right, technically their husband gets the title, and then it is passed on to their male heirs, as in the case of the 2nd Duchess of Marlborough, Henrietta), customs for lesser Scottish titles are different and therefore some titles *can* be passed on to female heirs, as in the instance of the Countess of Sutherland (the direct line descendant of the Duke of Sutherland – the title of “duke” had to go to a male heir/distant relative but the lesser title of earl/countess was heritable by a female); “favorites” – i.e. Anne Boleyn, the first woman to actually hold a title in her own right, as Marquess of Pembroke, as well as all of Charles II’s favorite mistresses (this practice has lapsed and is frankly unlikely to be revisited); life-peers – a non-hereditary title that indicates that someone is serving their party in the house of lords. Each party gets to nominate life peers and it’s the kind of honor that goes to people for a variety of reasons – for their contribution to society, for their contribution to the party, etc. A life peerage is similar to some of the really coveted diplomatic positions and is used by the parties to reward their stalwarts. (As Pamela Harriman was once rewarded by the Democratic Party by being made Ambassador to France.) The Countess of Mar is a life peer.
Lizzo/Mei-Lu: The women who have held titles in their own right do so by special permission from parliament and the crown. Such titles are granted by special order and granted specifically because the family holds a special place in public life and doesn’t have a male heir to inherit the title and family doesn’t want it to die out or be passed along to some distant relative no one has heard of.
These situations are always very special cases and never the norm. In the case of Duchess Henrietta Marlborough or Countess Mountbatten, both families were very close to the royal family AND the dukes of Marlborough helped cement William of Orange’s claim to the throne against the Stuarts. Mountbatten is both related to the current royal family AND was the last viceroy of India.
In both situations when there was no son to carry on the title, the family/Monarch petitioned parliament to grant the title to a daughter under special order. The condition of such special orders is that title is inherited by the first male heir of the daughter’s line at which point the male line only rules are restored.
However, where the daughter holds the title due to this special dispensation, the normal rules of title sharing apply ie females can’t confer titles to their husbands so Duchess Henrietta Marlborough’s husband/ Countess Mountbatten’s husbands were not granted Duke/Earl as a result of being married to the women.
Females do not pass on titles or share them with spouses.
The women mentioned above hold/held the title and it’s lesser holdings singly, and not shared.
Only their sons of the marriage inherit the title, not their husbands.
Life peers are different and a recent invention. Life peerages can be granted to women, but life peerages last only lifetime of title holder. They are not hereditary.
Countess of Mar is not a life peer. The current holder, Margaret of Mar, is the 31st of that ilk. It’s the oldest title in the UK. (Fun fact: when the presumptive heir to Mar is female, her title is Mistress of Mar.) The last hereditary peer, afaik, was Lord Whitelaw, created Viscount in 1983. (He died in 1999; he had no sons, so the title is extinct.)
I am a geek.
Ok. Titles. Different in Scotland, chaps! The title of laird is tied to land in Scotland and is more of an um… descriptive term than an aristocratic one. So the landowner does get called the laird because he owns an estate not because his ancestors were so-styled. Like um… “lord of the manor”, something like that. Of course, it comes with all the usual caveats and silly curlicues of exceptions that come with an old country. Anyone ever watched the old show Monarch of the Glen? Like that.
Hang on, Wiki probably explains it better than I’m doing…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laird
Yes, I was just waiting for the latest installment of MOTG and my wish just came true! 😉
Yeh MOTG!!!! Fan girl.
Speaking of hereditary Scottish titles tied to the aristocracy proper, the current dukes of Atholl are South African.
As in, the male Scottish line of the family died out at some point in the late 90s, and the title and all it’s expectations passed to a distant South African relative. The family continue to live their life in SA – current duke has a signage business, but have to visit their holdings and castle in Scotland every few months to undertake ceremonial duties.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/9272670/The-Duke-of-Atholl.html
I saw that article! And another relative lives in and runs the estate. The SA Duke comes up, throws on a kilt and leads his army. Apparently the only private army in the UK.
Lol at “a title to rival” Kate’s. Since they seem to care so much about that sort of thing, you would think they would realise that no title Pippa could get would even come close to topping the title Kate will have as the future Queen Consort. A “Lady” title doesn’t even trump her current “Duchess” title.
You really think Kate will be Queen consort when William doesn’t even want to be King?
Unfortunately I think he does want to be King. He just wants to be a private individual who does very little work, too.
It’s a “Lord of the Manor” kinda thing. Like Scott Disick did when he got a “title” although this Lord/Lady titles comes with a real manor and land.
No it doesn’t. At least not in Glen Affric. I used to live a couple miles from there and was involved with a commercial business about halfway down the glen. There’s no ‘manor house’ like MOTG and she won’t be moving in. It’s a bought title, similar to the ones you get on EBay. Good Luck Pippa, you won’t get far if you expect the locals to “my lady ship” you up there!
And lady and gentlemen we have a winner! Pippa is going to get the cash and the title without the hassle of royal work. Kate should have gone for something similar instead of wasting almost ten years on William.
She thought she would be Queen, but we all know its not going to happen.
I LOVE this outfit!! On my monitor she looks reasonably naturally tan, not spray on orange.
I’m in the throes of puppy training and am currently styled as Graymatters, Baroness of Goodgirl, Lady Pooutsideplease.
I wonder what will happen if she actually tries to use the title… I don’t think the current Lady Glen Affric uses it and as an artist I think she’s considered “of a higher class” than the merely rich, social -climbing Middleton wisteria offshoot. I don’t actually know what I’m talking about here, though. Anyone care to take a stab at explaining this to me?
Now Carole just needs to marry off Reek.
Lol — good one!
Ah yes, nothing says “keep to themselves” as much as a stint on the Bachelor. Very private. Much discreet. Fabulously wealthy.
Does this mean she’ll get a new signet ring and crest to replace her old Middleton one?
Never seen a family so enamored of class and title that have done nothing more than be related to the wife of a royal.
That’s the second time we’ve seen her steer herself between those same 2 boxwoods hedges.
Does anyone know whether this is James Mattews’ London townhouse?
Yeah that’s his “flat in Chelsea” the 17 mill pounds one. She reportedly moved in a few months back.
That ring does not improve the more we see it. I cannot believe that she would have chosen that so it must be his idea of impressive.
I have a few friends who somewhat cultishly collect Lularoe printed leggings & dresses. They all look the same to me, but with different prints, so I’m perplexed by their desire to have a closet stuffed full of the same item. Anyway, my point….I’m sure it isn’t, but Pippa’s dress looks like Lularoe. Perhaps part of Will & Kate’s “We’re Common, Too!” campain involves hosting Lularoe FB parties?
Looking forward to Harry getting hitched the Midds are becoming a juggernaut of a shadow Royal family el b a not an aristocratic one !
Some Scottish titles work this way, yes, but no English or Irish ones do. I forget why, but there’s some sort of historic reason for it, that in some cases the title goes with the land. There’s even a company that carves up titled land and sells it square foot by square foot to gullible foreigners who can then call themselves “Laird and Lady Squarefoot”.
There what this family plus their scheming mama’s ever wanted: rich in-laws, titles……blah blah blah.she’s probably marrying him for theedia attention, an inheritance and his money…but…it CANT ever be a royal wedding unless James has some hidden royalty somewhere in Europe…lol..I hope they last